Coming to the nation’s capital: Subsidized marijuana

Government health officials in Washington, D.C., may foot the bill for medical marijuana for the city’s poorest patients, according to a new rule proposed by the Department of Health.

In a public notice filed last week and first reported by the Washington Times, the city DOH proposed a rule that would mandate that medical marijuana dispensaries adjust the price of pot on a sliding scale for patients who cannot afford it.

The dispensaries would have to use 2 percent of their revenue in order to make up for the difference in price, according to the rule. Patients who could prove to the city that they earned 200 percent or less of federal poverty level wages could qualify to purchase medical marijuana on a sliding scale.

Of course, this is the same town in which the federal government refuses to contemplate any medicinal value in cannabis at all, and in which the President isn’t prepared to change his opposition to legalization “at this point.” Instead, the city — which answers to Congress — will give discounts to the poor to use it for medicinal purposes. Maybe if they kept the school voucher program in place, more of DC’s residents could afford it on their own in the future.

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